ISSUE 01, WEEK 1 SEPTEMBER 2022

The Indo-Pacific Bulletin

The latest weekly developments in and around the region
Published by the Indo-Pacific Centre, Tillotoma Foundation

At a Glance

SOLOMON ISLANDS
GOVERNMENT ELECTIONS
DELAYED

NORTH KOREA ADOPTS

NEW NUCLEAR DOCTRINE

INDIA-JAPAN MILITARY
EXERCISE
Solomon Islands

CHINESE FIGHTER JETS

CROSS TAIWAN STRAIT
Government

Elections Delayed
INDIA-VIETNAM
SECURITY DIALOGUE The parliament of the Solomon Islands
passed a bill stating that their general
MINISTERIAL MEETING OF
elections will be delayed until 2024, with the
THE INDO-PACIFIC
elections initially being planned to be held in
ECONOMIC FRAMEWORK 2023. Prime Minister of Solomon Islands
Mannaseh Sogavare stated that it won’t be
INDIA-CHINA COMPLETE
possible for the country to hold an election
DISENGAGEMENT IN
and also host the Pacific Games.
EASTERN LADAKH
continued

THE INDO-PACIFIC BULLETIN | ISSUE 01

01
 Indo-Pacific Centre, Tillotoma Foundation

North Korea

Adopts New

Nuclear Doctrine
Democratic People's Republic of Korea
(North Korea) announced its new nuclear
doctrine called the “Policy on Nuclear
Forces”, which was codified into law the
same day. The law states situations wherein
they will launch nuclear strikes. In addition
to this, the law also enshrined the use of pre-
emptive strikes and also prohibited any kind
of denuclearization talks.

India and Japan

Conduct Military

Exercise
On 11th September 2022, India and Japan
conducted a military exercise in the Bay of
Bengal for the sixth time under the Japan
India Maritime Exercise 2022 (JIMEX)
initiative. According to the Indian Navy, the
two sides seek to “consolidate the high
degree of interoperability that exists between
maritime forces of the two countries”.

02 THE INDO-PACIFIC BULLETIN | ISSUE 01

 Indo-Pacific Centre, Tillotoma Foundation

Chinese Fighter
Jets cross the

Taiwan Strait
On 13th September 2022, the Taiwanese
Ministry of National Defence said that two
Shenyang J-11 fighters crossed the Taiwan
Strait near northern Taiwan, while a KVD-
001 drone crossed the line further north. In
addition to this, a Y-8 tactical reconnaissance
plane and a Guizhou BZK-007 drone
entered the southwestern part of Taiwan’s
air defence identification zone. In response,
the ministry said that they scrambled fighter
jets and naval vessels and tracked the
Chinese aircraft with a surface-to-air missile
system.

India-Vietnam

Second Security

Dialogue
On 13th September 2022, Deputy National
Security Advisors from India and Vietnam
met in Delhi for the Second India-Vietnam
Security Dialogue. During this meeting, both
sides discussed issues regarding the
maritime domain and counterterrorism,
wherein both countries agreed to expand ties
on the same.

03 THE INDO-PACIFIC BULLETIN | ISSUE 01

 Indo-Pacific Centre, Tillotoma Foundation

Ministerial

Meeting of the

Indo-Pacific

Economic

Framework
Ministers from fourteen member-nations of
the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for
Prosperity met in Los Angeles to negotiate the
targets for the four pillars of the IPEF i.e.,
Trade, Supply Chain, Clean Economy and Fair
Economy. India announced that it opted out of
the fourth pillar of Clean Economy as it had
concerns over restrictions regarding digital
trade, environment, labour and public
procurement.

India and China

Complete

Disengagement

in Eastern Ladakh
On 13th September 2022, Indian and
Chinese troops completed disengagement at
the Patrolling Point-15 in the Gogra-Hot
Springs region in Eastern Ladakh. The
process took six days to complete. However,
according to official sources, the wider de-
escalation of nearly 60,000 troops is yet to
be negotiated.

04 THE INDO-PACIFIC BULLETIN | ISSUE 01